


Tags for Beginners

by ao3commentoftheday



Series: How to AO3 [1]
Category: No Fandom
Genre: Fanwork Research & Reference Guides, Gen, how to ao3, tags and tagging, understanding AO3 tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:42:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25584613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ao3commentoftheday/pseuds/ao3commentoftheday
Summary: If you're new to AO3 or just confused by tags in general, this guide attempts to break it down as simply and clearly as possible. This is written with readers in mind but might also be helpful for writers.
Series: How to AO3 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1854832
Comments: 17
Kudos: 209





	1. What are tags?

Tags are labels that AO3 users create for fics. Authors add them to their own stories. Readers can add them to bookmarks of other people's stories. You can use tags in your searches to either include or exclude results. 

Some tags are **canonical**. This means that they are tags that AO3 recognizes and can suggest to users. These suggestions are made by autocomplete and/or a dropdown menu which appears when you start typing.

Canonical tags can be a general idea that appears across fandoms, for example **fluff** , which indicates that a story is light and happy or **angst** , which indicates that a story will mostly likely be sad or contain painful emotions. 

Canonical tags can also be specific to one particular fandom. An example of this is **Howard Stark's A+ Parenting**. This references the Marvel Cinematic Universe character Howard Stark and the fact that he is often portrayed as being a terrible parent. This example also highlights the fact that because tags are created by the users first, they are often sarcastic or difficult to understand correctly at first glance.

Tag wranglers are AO3 volunteers who look at the tags that authors use on their works and then categorize them so that they're searchable and filterable. They are also the volunteers who make tags canonical. 

Any user can create any tag of their choosing, and tags that aren't a part of the suggestion system are **non-canonical**. 

On this work, the tag **Fanwork Research & Reference Guide** is canonical. The tag **understanding AO3 tags** is non-canonical. Non-canonical tags are sometimes just the author being chatty. Sometimes they are created because the author doesn't know there's a canonical tag already. Sometimes they know about the canonical tag but it doesn't get the idea across in quite the way they wish. And of course sometimes the author is creating a new tag because one doesn't exist yet. If enough other authors use it too, it might become canonical.

If you see a tag that describes something you want to read more of, try clicking on it. You'll get a list of all of the other works on the Archive that use that tag. You can filter that list to be more relevant to your preferences, and we'll discuss that in a later chapter.


	2. Reading the Tags on Works Part 1: Ratings and Warnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because all of these tags, ratings, and warnings are up for interpretation, I encourage you to use the comments section to provide your own interpretation if it is different from the one that I'm presenting here. If there are particular trends in rating or warning that are used in your fandom(s), that would be wonderful information to share with new readers.

When you're scrolling the list of works on the Archive, you can see an icon with 4 squares next to the title of each work. You can click on this icon and a pop up will appear that describes what each of the symbols means. 

Below the work title, you'll see any Warnings and tags that the author has added to their work. These are presented as a single block or paragraph, which can be difficult to read. Thankfully, there is a site skin that you can use to separate the types of tags out onto a new line for each type. The skin is called Byline and you can find it by visiting <https://archiveofourown.org/skins>. I have another work in my profile that combines that skin with the dark mode skin called Reversi. 

Once you enter a work, the tags and other information are separated out in an easier to read format. As you can see from this screenshot, there is a lot of information before you even start reading the story. 

Some of these are easier to understand than others, and all of them are up for debate sometimes. Let's take a look at what they mean.

### Rating

The rating on a work is very similar to ratings on things like movies or video games. But just like other forms of media, fanfiction has its own interpretations. Here is some general guidance you can use for ratings on AO3, but be aware that some fandoms and/or users interpret these ratings differently.

 **G** is for **G** eneral audiences. This is similar to the idea of "family friendly." If a parent knew that their 12 year old child was reading this work, they would not be concerned. I have rated this work as G because anyone on the Archive should feel comfortable accessing it.

 **T** is for **T** een and Up. In American movie terms, this is similar to PG-13. There might be the occasional swear word or kiss. There could also be references to more adult ideas such as sex, death, crime, violence, etc but there won't be much detail included.

 **M** is for **M** ature. This would be an R rating in American movie terms. This usually indicates either sex or violence or both. Any sex or violence is more than just a reference to something that has happened or is happening "off screen." There will be scenes that describe either sex or violence or both happening to characters.

 **E** is for **E** xplicit. This would be similar to the NC-17 rating in American terms. This can also indicate either sex, violence or both, but the degree of description and language used is stronger than in an M-rated work. It could also mean that there is more of that type of content in the fic, as a whole. Whatever is happening is happening "on screen" and with a high degree of detail.

There is also the possibility for the work to be unrated. **Not Rated** is the default rating on the Archive, so it's possible that an author has forgotten to assign a rating. To be safe, treat these works as possible M or E ratings rather than as G or T rated works. And always read the Additional Tags section to get more information before you start reading.

### Archive Warning

Archive warnings are listed at the top of the work, in bold, and they are also spelled out at the start of the tag listing for each work. These are not the only things that might need a warning on the Archive, but these are the official ones that were created when AO3 was built back in 2010. In order to take care of yourself, be sure to read the Additional Tags on the fic as well, and pay attention to Author's Notes. I've added one to the top of this chapter so you can see what they look like.

When an author is creating a new work, they must choose at least one of the Warning options. They are presented with a list, and they must check off at least one of the items. Here's a screenshot of what they see:

As with everything else, these warnings can be interpreted in different ways. Here's a guide to give you an idea:

 **Choose Not to Use Archive Warnings** could mean:

  1. The author doesn't like that they are required to use Warnings and uses this as a way to opt out tagging the other warnings. 
  2. The author doesn't want to reveal a spoiler about their story, so they aren't adding one of the other warnings that might actually apply.
  3. The author isn't sure whether one of the other warnings applies in this case.
  4. There isn't an official warning for this type of content, but the author wants to let readers know that they should be cautious about reading their work
  5. The author is confused about this warning and added it to their work by accident when they really should have used "No Archive Warnings Apply"



This particular warning is usually interpreted as a "be careful here" kind of warning. It's possible that the story inside is a lighthearted comedy but it's also very possible that the story is full of dark themes or ideas. If you are not prepared for difficult content, it's usually a good idea to avoid fics with this warning on them. 

**Graphic Depictions of Violence** means that the author is writing detailed descriptions of violent acts, or of the results of violent acts. The use of the word "graphic" here means that a lot of time is spent trying to give you a very clear mental image of what is happening in the violent scenes. 

Depending on the source material, authors may decide not to use this warning because they feel like their writing is no more violent than the show or movie or book they are basing their story on. In those cases, they will often use an Additional Tag such as **canon typical violence** to let readers know that they can expect the same level of violence that they experienced in canon.

 **Major Character Death** can be a difficult one. Some people will Choose Not to Use Archive Warnings instead of using this warning because they don't want to reveal a spoiler or because they're not sure that what they're writing qualified as major character death.

When this tag is used, the term "major character" can be interpreted in different ways. It could be a major character in canon who is a minor character in the story. It could be a major character in the story who is a minor character or an original character in the fic. And of course, it could be a major character in canon who is also a major character in the fic.

Some authors might not use this warning because an Additional Tag like **fake character death** or **temporary character death** or **not really character death** might be more appropriate to their plot.

 **No Archive Warnings Apply** means that you will not see content about any of the warnings in this fic. There will be no major character death, no graphic violence, no rape, and no underage sex. There might still be minor character death, non-graphic violence, and/or sex but not the kind that requires a formal warning.

 **Rape/Non-con** refers to sex or other sexual activities in which at least one participant is not consenting. As with other warnings, the Additional Tags section can provide more information for you about what is and isn't happening in the fic. Some fics use this warning for discussions about rape. Some use this warnings because an actual rape is being described.

 **Underage** on the Archive means younger than 18 years old and this warning refers to sex or other sexual activities with at least one character under the age of 18. Some authors may also use the Underage warning for characters who are not human and have a different lifespan, but they could also use Choose Not to Use Archive Warnings in those cases.

As I've said many times already, authors will often provide more details about what they mean by these warnings in the Additional Tags section of the work. Some authors will also add an author's note to the start or end of a work or a chapter to provide readers with more information. If you're unsure about whether or not a fic seems right for you, check those places for more details.


	3. Reading the Tags on Works Part 2: Categories, Fandoms, Relationships, and Characters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As mentioned in the previous chapter, authors will sometimes use an Author's Note to give information they weren't able to get across in tags. But Author's Notes can come at the end of a chapter or at the end of a work as well as here at the top. 
> 
> To give you an idea of what an end note looks like, I've added one to this chapter. There's a link right below this sentence that you can click on to go directly to the other note.

In the last chapter, we looked at the different types of information that you can find at the top of the fic. Here's that screenshot one more time:

Let's continue going down the list. 

### Category

The category of a fic refers to the types of relationships you can find in it. Most of these categories refer to romantic or sexual relationships and their orientations. Here is a screenshot of what author's see when they're posting a new work. As you can see, it is a series of check boxes again. An author does not need to indicate a category in order to post a work. 

  * F/F stands for Female/Female
  * F/M stands for Female/Male
  * Gen is short for "general" and indicates that romance and sex are _not_ the focus of this fic. 
  * M/M stands for Male/Male
  * Multi indicates either 
    * multiple partners in one relationship (3+ individuals)
    * multiple relationships in the fic
  * Other indicates relationships that aren't described by these other categories. It is also used by some creators to indicate that one or more people in the relationships in the fic are non-binary.



### Fandom

In the fandom space, creators will list any fandoms involved in the fic. If there is more than one fandom listed, the fic is a crossover. There are many types of crossover, and for a full description, I recommend that you take a look at [this article on Fanlore](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Crossover). Fanlore is another project by the Organization for Transformative Works, which runs AO3. It's a fan-created wiki about fandom.

### Relationship

When writing out the names of the characters in a relationship, using a / between the names indicates the relationship is romantic or sexual. Using an & between the names indicates that the relationship is platonic (friends, family, coworkers, etc). 

This symbol / is called a slash and it's where the term "slash fiction" comes from. This is an older idea in fandom and not all new authors are aware of this. As a result, you can't rely on the different uses of / and & in order to know whether a fic will contain romantic pairings or not. As with everything else, the Additional Tags should help with this. The category chosen by the author should also provide you with a strong clue.

### Characters

In this section, you'll see all of the characters listed by the author as people who are present in the fic. In the relationship section, you only see the characters who are written as in a relationship (either friendly or romantic etc) with another character in the story. 

Authors will sometimes put more information about characters in the Additional Tags, such as "trans Character Name" or "Character Name is autistic" etc. If you want to read more of a character described that way, try clicking on the tag to see other stories with the same tag on it.

The next chapter will be about Additional Tags. As you can probably tell by now, there is a _lot_ to cover when it comes to those kinds of tags. As always, please leave comments with additional information or interpretations. You can also feel free to ask questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An author will use an end note if they want readers to be able to avoid spoilers. This way, they can provide information to the people who want to see it without spoiling the people who don't want to know.
> 
> End notes are also used when the author is recommending readers do something that might take them away from a fic. This might be linking to a tumblr or an instagram account, for example. For my example, I want to encourage you to read the comments on the previous chapter if you haven't already. There's another interpretation of Major Character Death discussed there.


	4. Additional Tags: Intro + Mood/Genre tags

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm using a lot of fandom-specific vocabulary in this chapter, so any time there is a word that I think might be new to you, I will be linking out to [Fanlore](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Main_Page) or another resource for more information.

Throughout the first three chapters of this work, I've mentioned again and again that the Additional Tags section is something you should look at to find specific information about a fic before you dive into it. Now I'm finally going to talk about what additional tags _are_. 

The Additional Tags are also sometimes called Freeform tags, and they are the area where authors have the most freedom to express ideas. There are still plenty of **canonical tags** in this area, but you'll also see a lot of **non-canonical tags** here too. You may remember from chapter 1 that canonical tags are ones that are recognized by AO3's systems and are suggested to authors. Non-canonical tags are ones created by authors that haven't been formally added to the system yet. 

All tags are seen by tag wrangers eventually. Tag wranglers are volunteers who look at tags and make sure they're pointing at the right things. They make connections between tags, too, and this is called synning - short for "making synonymous." By connecting tags to each other, they try to ensure that those tags are searchable. That way, readers can search for **#black!Hermione** or **#hermione is black** and get the same results. 

Additional tags are often a wealth of information. Authors use them to describe:

  1. the mood or genre of the story
  2. the time period they are writing about
  3. whether or not the story matches canon
  4. characters or relationships that are mentioned but are not the focus
  5. potential triggers, warnings, or [squicks](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Squick)
  6. which episodes or books or films are referenced in the fic
  7. any tropes that might be included
  8. an explanation or further information about any other tag they have used
  9. personal commentary and/or jokes



As you can see, the list is long - and I'm sure I've forgotten things! Let's take these one at a time.

### Mood or Genre

Fanfics use the same literary and film genres that you're already familiar with. You can see fic tagged with action, comedy, romance, noir, mystery, etc. But Fanfiction also has genres of its own. If you're new to reading fanfiction, these genres might not be clear to you. 

  * [**angst**](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Angst) \- these stories are very emotional, often sad, and might or might not have a happy ending. Some authors will indicate this with a tag such as _#angst with a happy ending_ so you can keep an eye out for that signal
  * [**crack**](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Crack#Crackfic) \- stories with a crazy premise are called 'crack' in fanfic. You can also hear the term "crack ship" which means a wild or unbelievable pairing, such as Shrek/Hannibal Lecter. Some crack stories have a crazy plot or universe idea but the author writes the story as if it were completely serious. These fics are _#crack treated seriously_.
  * [**crossover**](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Crossover) \- these stories include at least 2 canons. Sometimes it is the characters of one canon occupying the universe of another canon. Sometimes it's characters from the two different universes meeting each other and experiencing the story actions together. There are _many_ types of crossover, so if you want to know more, I suggest clicking the link. The example of characters from one canon existing in the universe of the other is also called [**fusion**](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Fusion_\(genre\)). 
  * **[darkfic](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Darkfic) **\- these stories deal with disturbing content such as physical, emotional, or sexual violence. They often lack hope and focus on despair and other negative emotions. When entering a darkfic, do not expect a happy ending.
  * [**fluff** ](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Fluff)\- these are feel-good stories that focus on characters being happy together.
  * [**domestic**](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Domestic) \- these stories focus on the characters living their everyday lives. Many times, that includes families or living together in "normal" circumstances. It is frequently an AU for a canon in which the characters' lives are dangerous or action-packed. 
  * **[hurt/comfort](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Hurt/Comfort)** \- in these stories, one character is hurt (either physically or emotionally) and the plot focuses on another character caring for them and comforting them. This is often used as a way to explore the relationship - sometimes romantically and sometimes not. One type of hurt/comfort story is [**sick fic**](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Sickfic), in which the "hurt" is some kind of illness. Another type is [**whump**](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Whump), in which the hurt is usually extreme (such as torture).
  * [**kidfic** ](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Kidfic)\- are stories in which the characters have children. Those children might be canon characters, or they might be original characters (usually referred to as [OC](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Original_Character)s) that the author has created. This is different from [de-aging fics](https://fanlore.org/wiki/De-Aging), which take adult characters and imagine what they were like as children or put them in a universe, like Hogwarts, where they need to be children. 
  * [**podfic** ](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Podfic)\- these are stories that have been audio recorded and are available for you to listen to. Sometimes they have a player inside the AO3 work, and sometimes they provide a link to another location where the audio file is hosted. Podfics can be recorded by the original author, but they can also be recorded by other users who have asked permission. If you see the tag _#podfics welcome_ that means that the author is happy to give permission for others to record their story. 
  * **[PWP](https://fanlore.org/wiki/PWP) **\- stands for either Plot? What Plot? or Porn Without Plot depending on who you talk to. These are sex-focused stories that focus on the erotic rather than on the plot. 
  * [**smut** ](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Smut_\(glossary_term\))\- refers to stories that are very erotic. Sometimes smut means the same thing as PWP, but sometimes it's used for stories that do have a plot, but they have a lot of sex scenes in them as well. 



This list is not exhaustive, but it does include the major moods/genres that I was able to identify. In the next chapter, I'll discuss time periods and the tags associated with them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the meantime, if there are Additional Tags that you're curious about, feel free to leave them in a comment and I'll either update this chapter or add them to future chapters, as appropriate. 


	5. Additional Tags: time period, canon compliance, characters and relationships

In the previous chapter, I outlined a list of reasons why authors will use additional tags, and I started by describing the first one. In this chapter, I'm going to continue with items 2-4 on that list. 

Remember that there are two types of tags that are possible on the Archive: **canonical** and **non-canonical**. While all tags start off by a user creating them, some tags are seen by tag wranglers often enough that they are _canonized_ and become part of the suggested tags list in a dropdown menu.

While authors tend to choose mostly from the dropdown menu for the other tag sections mentioned in the earlier chapters of this work, they will often create their own non-canonical tags in the Additional Tags section. This section is often seen as a place where authors can have free rein to express themselves, so even if a canonical tag exists, they might choose to type in a non-canonical tag that suits their purpose better. 

As long as these non-canonical tags are easily understandable, tag wranglers can connect them to canonical tags in the backend systems of the Archive, and the tags will still be searchable. As previously mentioned, this is called _synning_ (making synonymous). 

We need to keep that idea of non-canonical tags front and centre when we're looking at Additional Tags because, as a reader, you might need to understand what an author is saying, even if they're saying it in a non-standard way. Also, because of the popularity of chatting in tags on sites like tumblr, you might need to read two or three tags together in order to get the full idea of what the author is saying. 

With all of that in mind, let's take a look at some more types of Additional Tags.

### Time Period

Changing the point in time when the story takes place is a popular Alternate Universe idea.

If the canon of a story takes place in, say, the Jolof Empire of 14th-16th century Western Africa, fan writers might decide they want to write those same characters in a **modern au** in which the characters are living in the 21st century instead. 

In English-speaking fandom, there is a tendency towards using time periods from English or American history when creating historical AUs, so you'll see terms like:

  * Elizabethan au
  * Victorian au
  * Regency au
  * Edwardian au
  * WWI au
  * Jazz Age au



To name just a few. If you're not familiar with these kinds of terms, then a google search is probably the easiest way of finding out. Sometimes, but not always, authors will include the tag **historical au** to give you a clue. 

Canonical tags with historical eras are generally written in the form **Alternate Universe - 1930s**. If you're searching for a particular kind of au story, however, you can just put the decade or the historical era and you should be able to pull up results. 

Time can include not just historical and modern aus but also **future fic**. This tag tends to refer to "a certain number of years after canon events" and not science fiction, however. For a story set in a future time period such as the year 2230, you will want to look for the tag **Alternate Universe - Future** or terms like **futuristic** or **future setting**. 

Other ways that authors can indicate a time period for their story would be to have their story cross over with another universe. For example, a Sherlock Holmes story that takes place in the Star Trek universe would be a future au. A Star Trek story that takes place in the Sherlock Holmes universe would be an historical au. To know which type the story is, you'll want to take a look at the other tags and read the summary carefully. 

### Canon compliance

The term "canon compliance" means that the story agrees with canon. It might happen before or after the official story of the book or the tv show, but it doesn't disagree with anything that the original writers decided. 

Since a lot of fan writers are writing their stories while canon is in progress (for example, I start writing a story at the end of season 2 and I know season 3 will be airing next year), their stories can sometimes _start off_ canon compliant and then something happens when the next episode airs that makes their story no longer compliant. In situations like these, an author might tag **canon compliant up to 1x18**. This means that it fits in with the canon up until that episode aired, but something in that episode makes this story no longer agree with the original writers.

Another tag you might see is **canon divergent _._** This means that the story starts off canon compliant, but at a certain point it takes a different direction from the original story. That point might happen inside the fic, or it might be established already when the fic starts. 

In the section above, I spoke about **alternate universes**. An alternate universe is generally not canon compliant. AUs change something about the canon universe - that's why they are an "alternate" - but that something could be something big or small. It could be one thing or it could be many things.

If the change is small, the story might be labelled a **canon au**. That tag could also be used if the canon itself is the one to create the alternate universe. For example, if one episode of a tv show is a musical but the rest of the show is a drama. Because the show created the alternate universe first, a fan writer might consider using that setting to be a "canon au". For more information about Alternate Universes, take a look at [the Fanlore page on the topic](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Alternate_Universe). 

A **headcanon** is something that the author believes to be true in their own mind, but is an interpretation of evidence in canon. It is not state outright, but the author feels like it is true based on what they've seen in the story. You do not need to agree with the author's interpretation, but it generally considered polite to let people enjoy their own headcanons.

### Characters and relationships

As mentioned in chapter 3, authors will use the Additional Tags to provide extra information about the characters and relationships in the story.

For characters, this might include headcanons or interpretations around race, gender, sexuality, religion, and more.

For relationships, it might include information around the status of the relationship or how that relationship is portrayed in the story. 

Additional Tags is also where you'll find characters and relationships that are mentioned in the fic but are not a focus of it. If your favourite character or relationship isn't popular among fan writers, this might be where you need to search for them to find more fic. 

**One note here:** not all authors use the additional tags in these situations. Some authors will tag every character and relationship mentioned in a story in the Character and Relationship tag sections. If your faves are minor characters or rare pairs, this can be frustrating. It's important to read the summary and all of the tags ahead of going into a story to try to avoid that disappointment. If you're still not sure, then try opening up the story using the Entire Work button (at the top of the page) and doing a search for the character's name. That might help you decide if you want to read the story or not. 

If there is very little of those characters or relationships in the story, the author might use a word like "minor" or "mention" in their tag. This indicates that there is very little of that character or relationship in the story. This is helpful both to people who love those characters/ships and therefore won't read the story and be disappointed _and_ to people who hate those characters/ships and know that they don't need to avoid this story because of that tag. 

* * *

In the next chapter, I'll be dealing with warnings, triggers, and [squicks](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Squick). The terms and ideas mentioned might be uncomfortable, but I will do my best not to go into unnecessary detail. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, please add your ideas in the comments if I've missed something. And if there's a tag you've seen that you don't understand feel free to ask down there. I'll do my best to explain. 
> 
> Apologies for the long wait between chapters.


	6. Additional tags: triggers, warnings, or squicks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will mention potentially triggering topics but won't go into detail about them. If you're concerned that this chapter might disturb you, please ask a friend to read it first and let you know what they think. Take care ❤

In chapter 2, we looked at the ratings and warnings that authors are required to put on fics. In that chapter, I mentioned that ratings and warnings will give you some of the information you might need before deciding to read a story, but that you'll want to check out the additional tags as well. Those initial ratings and warnings only let you know _some_ of what might be in a fic. The additional tags allow an author to give further details or to explain why they're adding a particular rating or warning. 

Since authors often want to give more information, you might see a tag like **#additional warnings in author's note** or **#additional warnings apply**. This is a reminder to you to read the author's note before you read the story/chapter so that you'll know whether or not that story/chapter will be something you're interested in reading or maybe something that could upset you. Remember that author's notes might be at the start of a story/chapter or they might be at the end. If they're at the end, there will be a link at the top to take you directly down to them.

* * *

An author may or may not use the Major Character Death warning, even if a character dies in the fic. They might use the warning **Author Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings** because they aren't sure whether the type of character death in their fic counts or not. In that case, you could see additional tags like **#not really character death** or **#temporary character death** or **#implied/referenced character death**. 

Some other tags related to character deaths are:

  * minor character death
  * canonical character death
  * non-canonical character death
  * past character death
  * original character death
  * possible character death
  * character death in a dream
  * fake character death
  * character death in a dream
  * future character death
  * background character death
  * canon temporary character death



But death isn't the only thing that authors might warn about in their additional tags. 

Additional tags related to the Graphic Violence warning might be things like **#guro** or **#gore** or **#vore.** Gore is usually blood or wounds etc. explained in extreme detail. Guro is when that explanation uses words or imagery that is related to sex, and guro may also include sex acts performed on a wound. Guro isn't necessarily gore, though. It could be anything grotesque that is written as erotic. Vore refers to one character eating or swallowing another character (or parts of another character) in a sexual way. 

**#character bashing** could also be related to graphic violence. Fics with this tag will abuse that character, either by hurting the character or by describing the character and their actions in a way that makes it clear that the character is a bad person. This doesn't necessarily mean that the author hates this character but reading the fic might make you feel that way if you love that character.

In chapter 1 of this work, I gave the example **Howard Stark's A+ Parenting** to talk about how tags can be sarcastic. The A+ Parenting tag can also be a warning because those stories will often deal with parental abuse of children. However, since not everyone knows that the tag is sarcastic, you might find some authors using it to genuinely mean that the character is a _good_ parent. This is another example of why looking at the ratings, warnings, and additional tags together is the best way to know what kind of fic you're going into. 

If the genre the author is writing is hurt/comfort or angst, you might also see a tag like # **whump** which really puts the character through a _lot_ of hurt before they get their comfort - if they get any comfort at all. This could range from physical torture to psychological trauma. The person who receives the whump is called the **woobie,** so if a character is referred to with that word, you know that they're going to experience a difficult time in the story.

Fics with high ratings or strong warnings might also come with a tag such as **#dead dove: do not eat**. This is a reference to an old meme from the TV show Arrested Development. For an explanation of the meme, you can see [this tumblr post](https://ao3commentoftheday.tumblr.com/post/186669747718/what-does-dead-dove-dont-eat-mean-id-google). What it means when you see this tag on a fic is that the author isn't joking about their tags and warnings. Any fic tagged with the dead dove tag will require all of those warnings. You should not expect an explanation of morality or punishment for villains or condemning any type of behaviour. While that _may_ happen, it is not the expectation. 

A fandom-specific tag that related strongly to both whump and dead dove is **#hydra trash party**. This one exists within the MCU fandom and stories that use it are about Hydra abusing much-loved characters such as Steve Rogers or Bucky Barnes. You can learn more about it [on Fanlore here](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Hydra_Trash_Party).

**#dark** is another tag that also indicates a fic contains topics like physical or sexual violence or emotional trauma or abuse. 

If you see the tag **#mindfuck** , that means that the point-of-view character loses control of reality. They become confused about what is real and what isn't. It might be due to mind control, brainwashing, mental illness, or magic among other causes.

Another warning that we discussed in chapter 2 was for Rape/Non-con. You might also see these as tags in the Additional tags section. There's **#rape** and **#non-con** and there's also **#dubious consent**. Dubious consent might also be shortened to just **dubcon**. This is a distinction that only exists in fictional stories. It's a variation on non-consent or rape where the characters aren't able to consent but also don't experience any negative feelings as a result of their experience. It can also be used when a character is outwardly agreeing to sex but their internal monologue shows the reader that they don't actually want to have sex. 

As with character death, there are a lot of variations on how and why authors might use these tags, and again you might see the warning on the fic as Author Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings and then get the details around consent or type of rape in the additional tags. Some examples are:

  * implied/referenced rape/non-con
  * past rape/non-con
  * non-graphic rape/non-con
  * rape fantasy
  * rape roleplay
  * threats of rape/non-con
  * mildly dubious consent
  * extremely dubious consent
  * dubious consent due to identity issues



Any additional tags with the word **underage** in it means that the characters involved are under 18 years of age. Because that could be either children or teens, there is also a tag for **extremely underage** which is about young children, toddlers, or babies. 

One last piece of advice in terms of [squicks](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Squick) and triggers: if a fic seems like it's going to involve sex (based on ratings and other tags), and there are tags like **#CBT** or **#watersports** or other tags that you don't understand, you might want to look them up on [urban dictionary](https://www.urbandictionary.com/) before reading the story. They might or might not be a kink that you're interested in reading. 

Finally, be on the lookout for **#other additional tags to be added**. This isn't a warning at all, and it can be used on any kind of fics from fluffy gen to E-rated dark fics. Usually this indicates that the author is still writing the story and isn't sure what else might need to be tagged. You, as a reader, just want to be aware of this tag so that you know to either check the tags before you read the latest chapter or wait for the fic to be complete before you read it so that you have all of the tags available before you dive in. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you have other tags that you consider to be warnings, please share what they are and what they mean in the comments!


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